


The Handyman Chronicles

by WalkingFan



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Zombie Apocalypse, Bottom Rick, Handyman Daryl, M/M, Masturbation, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-20
Updated: 2015-11-29
Packaged: 2018-05-02 12:14:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5247914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WalkingFan/pseuds/WalkingFan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rick just moved into a new apartment after his split from Lori and nothing is going his way. Of course, that scruffy handyman isn't too bad looking...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! A fun little thing I got inspired to write after watching Air. I didn't love the movie but I guess seeing Norman Reedus working with tools does things to me. Hope you enjoy!

“Well, shit.” Rick had lived in his new apartment for all of ten hours now and he’d only just realized that he didn’t have any hot water. He sighed and rubbed his calloused fingers over his tired eyes. He halfway debated on saying screw it and waiting until he got to the station tomorrow to use the locker room showers, but he felt about ten different kinds of grimy and exhausted.

He’d spent most of the day moving his things out of the house he’d shared with Lori and that’d been tiring enough, especially when she stopped him every ten minutes to argue about taking something that she decided she wanted to keep. Thank god Carl had been there, as well as a couple buddies from the station, because they were the only thing that kept him from going off on her. She’d been the one to cheat on him and yet he was the one that had to move out. Rick still wasn’t sure how that worked exactly.

Either way, he’d found a decently sized two bedroom apartment on the other side of town. It wasn’t in the best of neighborhoods and the appliances certainly weren’t up to date, but it was what he could afford and there was a place for Carl here. That depended of course on Lori’s mood and if she was even going to let Rick take him. For now, they’d settled on every other weekend, but Rick was pushing for joint custody and hopefully there wouldn’t be any problems getting it once the divorce was finalized.

Rick said screw it and gritted his teeth as he stepped under the freezing cold spray. He took one of the quickest showers of his life and once he toweled off, walked straight to his computer to put in the work order for maintenance to come and fix his hot water heater. He didn’t think his body could stand another ice bath.

* * *

 

The next day, Rick managed to get off early from the station and run to the grocery store to stock some of his empty cupboards. He walked to his front door, juggling about six plastic bags, as he hunted for his new house key. But as he reached out to put the key in the lock, he saw that there was already another set in there. A key ring with about twenty different keys and a few different tools on it sat in the lock and Rick saw that his door was already cracked open.

Pushing his door inward, he stepped past the threshold and looked around. His place was still scattered with random furniture and unpacked boxes but he didn’t see anyone in the living room or kitchen. Then he heard a gruff “Damn it!” come from the hallway.

With quick footsteps, he poked his head around the corner and found another man crouched inside the small utility closet that held his hot water heater. Rick shifted from one foot to the other, unsure of what to say. Finally, he cleared his throat and croaked out, “Uh…hi…”

The man shifted backwards and stood up, whipping around only for Rick get blinded by the headlamp he wore strapped to his forehead. Rick held his hand up to block the bright light until the man finally turned it off and Rick could get a good look at him.

“Oh, sorry ‘bout that. I’m maintenance. Got a work order ‘bout your water heater.” The man gestured to the closet next to him and Rick nodded in understanding. The maintenance man in front of him wore dark blue coveralls that had the name of the apartment complex embroidered over the left breast pocket. He had dark, shaggy hair that hung down almost to his shoulders and a scruffy mess of facial hair to match. All in all he looked like he’d be just as comfortable in a garage under a car as he did fixing the water heater in Rick’s apartment.

“Uh, yea,” Rick finally spoke up. “Just couldn’t get any heat to it. Tried for a good ten minutes before I finally gave up.” He shrugged his shoulders and realized he was still holding all his grocery bags. “I’ll let you get back to it…put these away.”

The maintenance man gave him a short nod before turning his light back on and reaching into a red toolbox that sat at his feet. Rick didn’t want to seem like a weirdo who watched the handyman work so he headed to his kitchen to put the groceries away. He hoped he bought some stuff that Carl would actually eat.

Normally, he would’ve gone straight to his computer and messed around on the internet for an hour or so, but he felt weird doing that with some stranger in his place so he got to work on some of the things he still hadn’t unpacked yet.

He’d just finished filling up his bookshelf when he heard the clank of metal on metal and then the handyman emerged from the hallway with toolbox in hand. “Looks like it just needed a new heating element.” Rick watched as he walked over to the sink in the kitchen and turned the faucet on, all the way to hot.

He stood there for a good minute before he nodded his head in Rick’s direction. “Should be good now.” Rick walked over and felt the water for himself. It was lukewarm on his fingertips but after a second, it started heating rapidly and Rick almost had to jerk his hand away.

“Yea, seems like it,” Rick said awkwardly, shaking his hand to fling off some droplets before drying it on his pant leg. “Thanks for fixing it.”

“No problem,” Daryl replied automatically, like he was used to saying that at least twenty times a day. Taking his toolbox, he gave Rick a quick nod and headed for the front door.

“So…uh…you the only maintenance guy for this place?” Rick didn’t know what made him want to keep talking to this guy. Maybe his apartment seemed kind of empty and this was the first person he’d really had inside it. His buddies that helped him move just dropped everything off and gave him a quick handshake before booking it back to their cars. They were all married guys and Rick wondered if he was taboo now because he was getting a divorce, like they thought they could catch it or something.

The other man stopped short, his hand on the doorknob, before turning back to Rick. “Nah, there’s another guy, Miguel. But he mostly works on buildings A, C, & D. I do all the rest.”

“Ah, okay,” Rick nodded. “Well, I just moved in…obviously. Still checking everything out, so I’m sure I’ll be putting an order in for something else soon. I mean it took me a whole day to realize there wasn’t any hot water.” Rick’s mouth turned up into a half smile and he shrugged sheepishly.

“S’what I’m here for,” the man in the coveralls said and he made a shrug to match Rick’s. He stood there for an awkward few seconds, looking around the practically bare apartment. Rick had a minimum of furniture, whatever his friends gave him or he could get cheap. He didn’t even have any pictures to go on the walls. “Divorce?”

Rick’s eyebrows rose a good inch higher as he took a deep breath and ran a hand along the back of his flushed neck. That was the last question he’d expected to be asked. “Uh…yea. Is it that obvious?”

The maintenance man relaxed his stance and looked around before letting his eyes settle back over Rick. Rick couldn’t help but notice just how clear blue those eyes were. “Older guy, place is pretty bare, no hurry to unpack like a woman would want you to be. ‘Course the divorce papers on the counter are a pretty good tip off too.” His mouth quirked upwards and Rick turned to the kitchen counter to see that he had indeed left the papers out that Lori had given him just before shutting the door in his face.

He let out a shaky laugh and rolled his eyes. “Yea, I guess so. Well, I won’t keep you any longer. Thanks again for fixing the water. Won’t freeze my ass off in the shower anymore.”

“Hope not,” the man responded and he made to turn back towards the door but he stopped himself short. Swinging back around, he swapped his toolbox to his left hand and then reached his right one out in Rick’s direction. “I’m Daryl, by the way.”

Rick took the outstretched hand and they shook quickly before breaking apart. Daryl’s hand was stronger than Rick had anticipated, and incredibly warm as well. “Oh, I’m Rick. It’s, uh, it’s nice to meet you.”

Daryl gave Rick a brief nod before finally exiting the apartment, leaving Rick to fall into his computer chair with a contented sigh. Looking down at his hand that’d just been in Daryl’s, he tried to shake off the warmth that still radiated from his palm.

* * *

 

Only two days later and Rick found the source of his next work order. Starting a load of towels in the stacked washer/dryer that the apartment had come with, he walked away and came back five minutes later to find the kitchen floor covered in sudsy water.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Rick stammered as he ran his hands through his hair and tried to think of what to do first. Taking a deep breath, he slid across the slick tiles and quickly shut the washer off. Looking around, Rick sighed deeply as he realized that all the towels in his possession were currently occupying the washer and he ended up using two rolls of paper towels to dry up a decent amount of the water.

After changing his sweatpants that had gotten soaked to an old pair of flannel pajama bottoms, he put the work order in and cursed his luck. It was a Friday night and he knew that his washer wasn’t even going to get looked at until Monday. That meant at least two days without towels. Maybe he’d bite the bullet and go buy a couple new ones to tide him over, even though money was tight enough as is. The divorce lawyer he’d met with yesterday wasn’t going to be cheap.

“Fucking Lori…” Rick grimaced as he thought about all the shit he’d been put through in just a matter of a few weeks. Not just him, but Carl as well. With his mood thoroughly soured, he decided to go to bed early.

* * *

 

The next morning, Rick sat on his couch watching the news and sipping a cup of coffee. He felt kind of peaceful as the morning light filtered through the blinds and then was quickly brought out of his reverie when he heard a knock on his door.

Rick looked at the clock on his phone and read 8:45. Wondering who the hell would be at his door this early, he dragged his still sleepy body to the front door and opened it with the chain on. To his surprise, Daryl was standing on the other side with his trusty red toolbox in his hand.

“Morning,” Daryl said, his voice low and gravely like he hadn’t quite woken up yet either.

“Oh…uh…hang on,” and Rick closed his door to pull back the chain, opening it wide only a second later. He stepped to the side and gestured for Daryl to come in, only taking a moment to look down at his attire. He still wore his ragged flannel bottoms that he’d had for a million years and on top he wore a light grey t-shirt that fit better two years ago. Now it was a little snug but Rick refused to throw it away because it was still soft and comfy.

He felt incredibly underdressed compared to Daryl’s work coveralls. “The washer, right?” and Rick looked up to see Daryl’s eyes on him.

“Uh, yep!” Rick said in a voice that was just a smidge too high. He pointed to the kitchen where the laundry closet was located and Daryl walked around, Rick following him a few feet behind. “Just started pouring water all over the floor. Don’t think it ran for more than a few minutes.” Running a hand through his hair, he realized that his curls were a huge mess and tried to smooth them down as best as he could.

“Mmm…” Daryl grunted and he started to inspect the offending appliance.

Rick grabbed his coffee cup and stood behind the counter, trying to block off his ratty appearance as much as possible. “Didn’t expect you today. Thought it would probably be Monday before you could look at it.”

“Yea…I can see that,” replied Daryl and Rick caught a half smirk on the handyman’s face as he wedged himself behind the stacked washer and dryer. The smirk and Daryl’s comment make Rick blush a little and he tried to hide it by taking a long swig of coffee.

“Nah…” Daryl piped up from where Rick could hardly even see him. “My days off are Sundays and Mondays. Works better like that. Some people…” and Daryl started to work his way back out of the tight space, “they don’t like having me ‘round to fix things if they ain’t there.”

“Well, that’s stupid. You’re just doing your job.”

Daryl pulled the last of his right leg free and shrugged. “Yea. Can’t change people though. Looks like a couple of rings dry rotted. Think I got some more downstairs. I’ll be back.”

Rick had settled an elbow on his counter, resting his chin in his hand, and before he could even walk Daryl to the door, the handyman had walked around him and already stepped out, closing the door behind him. Rick didn’t waste a second though as he made a dash to his bedroom and stripped out of his clothes and into some more appropriate ones. Tugging on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt that fit just a little bit better, he ran into the bathroom and combed his hair as well.

Rolling on a bit of deodorant, he heard a short knock on his front door and then it opened. “Just me,” he heard Daryl’s voice call out and then the low clomp of the man’s work boots on his kitchen floor. By the time Rick had made it back out to the main room, Daryl was already mostly concealed in the back of the closet and Rick could hear him working with some tool.

“Easy fix then?” Rick asked as he made himself another cup of coffee. He really didn’t know what else to say and almost regretted saying anything at all until Daryl replied.

“Should be,” Daryl grunted out, huffing as he put some extra muscle behind whatever it was that he was doing. “Just take it easy and don’t over fill it. These front loaders can’t take as much as a top loader.”

Rick nodded his head in understanding before realizing that Daryl couldn’t see him. Just as he was about to respond, his cell phone went off and he saw that it was Carl calling. Rick had promised Carl when he moved out that he’d always answer and this time was no exception. Hitting the green answer key, he made his way over to his desk and sat down as Carl talked to him about how unfair his mom was being.

Rick treaded his way through the conversation, knowing that he was on thin ice with Lori and he wanted to make sure everything in the divorce and custody agreement went smoothly. That meant being sure to play an even field and not encouraging Carl to take sides, even if he secretly thought that Lori was doing just that back at their old house.

As he finished up with Carl, he turned his head to see Daryl twist his body out from behind the stacked appliance and bend over to gather things up into his toolbox. The coveralls clung to his form and Rick could see how muscular the man really was. Rick couldn’t help but wonder if he worked out or if being a handyman gave him all the physical exertion he needed to stay in such good shape.

Right as Daryl stood back up with toolbox in hand, Carl said his goodbye and Rick hung up. “Sorry ‘bout that…my son,” and Rick tucked his phone into his pocket before standing up and walking towards the kitchen. “So, is it all fixed?”

“Yea, that’ll take care of it…”

They stood there in a slightly awkward silence. Daryl’s eyes looked down and he seemed to be noticing that Rick had changed at some point. Rick was starting to blush and he reached out for his coffee that he’d left sitting on the counter. He took a big gulp of the now cold beverage and swallowed it in one go.

“He live with your wife then?” Rick’s ears perked up at Daryl’s question and he watched as the handyman swapped the toolbox to his other hand while looking down to brush something off his coveralls.

“My son?” Rick asked for clarification and Daryl gave an almost imperceptible nod. “Yea, for now anyways. Hoping to switch it to joint custody though. We’ll see what happens. You have any kids?”

Daryl snorted and quickly shook his head, his long bangs swinging in front of his eyes. “Nah, no kids.”

“Wife?” Rick asked. He didn’t see a ring on the man’s finger, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything.

“Nope. Nothing like that,” Daryl mumbled and he unconsciously brought the thumb on his right hand to his mouth and started biting at the nail. The way he did that told Rick that it was probably a habit of the handyman’s, something that he’d done for years. Whether it was a nervous habit or not, Rick couldn’t tell.

A loud ring broke through the air between them and Daryl reached in his pocket to pull out a phone. “Mmm…work phone,” he mumbled quickly before answering the call. He spoke for maybe ten seconds before ending the call and heading for the door. “Gotta go. Water leaking through someone’s ceiling in the building next door.”

“Well, I hope it’s nothing too bad,” was all Rick could think to say as Daryl stepped outside.

“Doubt it!” the other man called back as he made his way down the hallway and out of Rick’s sight.

* * *

 

That next Tuesday, Rick pulled into the parking lot of his complex and walked briskly down the sidewalk that led to his building. As he rounded a corner, he saw Daryl and another man sitting on one of the picnic tables that sat in a little courtyard that connected the complex together. Rick assumed the other man must be Miguel because he wore an identical pair of coveralls to match Daryl’s.

Both men were smoking cigarettes and leaning back against the table, occasionally chuckling at something the other one said. Rick unknowingly slowed his pace and made sure to keep his eyes on the sidewalk in front of him. He trained his face to look concentrated, like he had something important on his mind, but in reality the only thing going through his brain right now was: _Hey Daryl! Hey! Look at me! Talk to me! Say something to me!_

And just like his thoughts were being transmitted out on a loudspeaker, Rick heard, “Hey, Rick! How’s that washer doing? No more leaks?”

Rick’s head shot up at the sound of his name but he at least had the sense to look around for a second before finding his handyman at the picnic tables. He smiled and waved a hand at Daryl when he saw the man’s eyes on him, his brow slightly furrowed as he waited for Rick’s response. “Hey! Yea, works great now! Thanks to you…” Rick replied and he tried not to blush as he said the last part.

“Alright. Let me know if you need anything else.” Daryl gave him a nod, one that Rick immediately returned, before he went back to Miguel and they went on with whatever they’d been discussing. Rick’s feet returned to a normal pace, if not even a little more hurried, as he made his way up the steps and down the hallway to his front door.

He didn’t waste any time in turning his key in the lock and stepping inside, slamming the door closed by leaning his entire body weight against it. Rick laid flush against the heavy wood as he slowly banged the back of his head against the door, a low groan working its way up his throat until it slipped past his lips as a loud, guttural growl. “Shit…” Rick finally managed to spit out as he realized that he had a thing for his handyman.


	2. Chapter 2

With Rick’s realization now at the forefront of his mind, he spent the next few weeks trying to ignore his attraction to Daryl. Rick had only just ended things with Lori and the last thing he needed was to get interested in someone else. He needed to focus on finalizing the divorce and getting a custody agreement settled, but he couldn’t help it when his mind would drift back to the handyman practically every other minute.

His attraction to Daryl had seemed to come out of nowhere, but once he realized how much he wanted Daryl to notice him, Rick could see it plain as day. He hadn’t felt that way about anyone in a long time, especially not a man. He’d experimented a bit back in the day, had some fun with a few guys, but when he met Lori, he knew she was the one he wanted to settle down with.

But now his marriage was over and Rick was honestly a little surprised that his first post-split crush was on a man. It made it even harder that it was Rick’s maintenance man and he saw Daryl walking from building to building almost every day. Rick was determined to try to put this all from his mind, so he would give Daryl polite nods and pick up the pace so Daryl would think he was in a hurry and didn’t have time to talk.

That seemed to work well enough until his kitchen sink decided to go on strike and completely stop draining. Rick tried to finagle with it for two whole days, even watching a few how-to videos, before he finally gave in and put in the work order. Rick had never been handy around the house, much to Lori’s chagrin, and only now did he start to resent himself for that.

He went to the work the next day with his fingers crossed that Daryl would come while he was at work and Rick would come home to a sink that drained beautifully. Of course, that was just a hope. Instead, Rick came home right at four-thirty to find Daryl’s keys in his door and the handyman under his sink.

A quarter of Daryl’s upper body was positioned directly in the cabinet while the rest of his body jutted out onto Rick’s tiled floor. His legs were bent at the knees, causing his uniform to tug in all the right places around his hips and ass. Rick bit his lip and forced his eyes to look away instead of leaning forward to get a closer look like his dick was telling him to do.

At the sound of Rick’s footsteps, Daryl sat down the flashlight that he held in his hands, then curled his head and neck forward until he was free of the confined space below Rick’s sink. He stayed seated, resting his elbows on his knees as he looked Rick up and down. “Shit…didn’t know you was a cop…” Daryl grumbled and Rick almost thought that he read disappointment in the man’s eyes.

“Sheriff’s deputy actually,” Rick corrected him. Rick had never felt bad about his profession, feeling proud of what he did most of the time, but today was the first time he actually wanted to apologize to someone for it. His fondness for the handyman was making him feel some crazy things.

“Same thing,” Daryl shrugged. He curled himself back down into the cabinet and grabbed the flashlight once again. “So, what’d you do to this thing? Drop something down one of the drains?”

“Uh…not that I’m aware of. Just stopped draining,” Rick replied, knowing that he sounded a little indignant. He wasn’t crazy about being accused of things he didn’t do. That was one of Lori’s signature moves.

“Alright, alright,” Daryl’s voice lightened. “Ain’t saying you did it on purpose, man. Rough day?”

Rick softened at Daryl’s question and he nodded when he saw the handyman’s head look out and up, eyes focused on him. It really had been a tough day on Rick. He’d heard from his lawyer that Lori was wanting full custody of Carl, as well as child and spousal support.

Heading for his fridge, he grabbed himself a beer and then figured _what the hell_ as he grabbed one for Daryl as well. Popping both open, he took a sip off his as he sat the other one down at Daryl’s feet. Daryl pulled himself free to sit upright as he took the beer Rick had left for him. He gave Rick a nod before take a long pull, probably downing about half the bottle.

“Just shit with the wife…” Rick grumbled, leaning against his counter and crossing his arms.

“Sounds about right,” Daryl said before diving back down below the sink.

“Why the hell do women always think they can get whatever the hell they want?”

Rick’s question was more rhetorical than anything, but he still wanted an answer even though he knew no one really had one. He heard Daryl snort from inside the cabinet. “Shit…I don’t know. Asking the wrong guy. Guess ‘cause they think they got something you want and ‘less you give into them, you ain’t gonna get it.”

Rick scoffed and rolled his eyes at that answer. Joke’s on them, he thought. What he really wanted was lying down at his feet right now. Rick took another swig of his beer as he took a long, hard look at Daryl. His ass was nice and rounded in that position and the fabric of his coveralls bunched up perfectly around his crotch. All Rick could think about was crouching down between Daryl’s legs and running his hands over every inch of the man’s body.

“Hey, can you hand me that big wrench sitting on top of my toolbox?” Daryl asked and Rick was pulled right out of his daydream.

“Uh…sure…”

Rick grabbed the wrench in question and brought it to Daryl’s outstretched hand. Their fingers brushed together during the quick exchange but Daryl’s hand felt just as hot as that time they shook hands. A small shiver ran down Rick’s spine as he imagined that hot hand wrapped around his cock.

Looking down, Rick realized he was starting to sport some serious wood and his stiff, brown uniform pants did nothing to help conceal it. He momentarily wondered what it would be like if Daryl sat up from under the sink and came face to face with Rick’s erection about to burst through his zipper, but he knew he’d never have the courage to actually find out so instead he walked around his kitchen counter to where his lower half was concealed.

They chitchatted for a few more minutes, mostly about random stuff around the apartments, before Daryl pulled himself completely free of the sink and stood up. Chugging the last of the beer Rick had given him, he turned on the sink and they both watched as the water swirled down the drain without any problems. “You’re a miracle worker,” Rick said with a genuine, happy smile and a slow clap. He was only halfway joking but Daryl didn’t need to know that.

“Yea, right,” Daryl snorted as he gathered up his tools. “And if I get any more work orders from you, you’ll be a damn nuisance.” Daryl’s mouth was turned up into an amused smile as he gave Rick a quick wink before walking to the door.

That wink had Rick’s mind reeling in about twenty different directions. Was that a joke? Was he just teasing? Or was he flirting? Should Rick flirt back? His heart was pounding in his chest as he felt his cheeks flush a rosy pink. He also still had some blood pumping down below his belt, so instead of walking the man out, he stayed put by his counter.

“Well, I wouldn’t want to be that. I’ll be sure to cut back from here on out,” Rick managed to quip back as Daryl opened the door.

Stepping outside, he held the doorknob as he turned to look back at Rick. “Nah…don’t do that. You’re the only one that gives me beer.” Rick couldn’t help the laugh that burst from his lungs and Daryl chuckled too before giving him a quick nod goodbye and closing the door behind him.

Once he settled down, Rick realized that the situation in his pants wasn’t going anywhere and he needed to take care of the problem. Locking his door and pulling the chain across, he didn’t even bother to undress before sinking into his computer chair and pulling up a few porn sites.

Rick clicked through page after page of videos and found nothing that interested him. He almost gave up before having an idea. Clicking his cursor in the search bar, he typed in “gay handyman porn” and hit enter. Rick thought he might have a couple to choose from but he ended up having about five pages of material to sift through. He didn’t have to search for long until he found a video of a handyman fixing a sink and getting a blowjob while doing it.

That was almost the exact fantasy Rick had been imagining only half an hour ago so he eagerly hit play and undid his pants. Pulling his straining cock out, Rick wrapped his fingers around the base and slowly stroked himself up and down. Sighing in utter relief, he put a little spit in his palm before rubbing it around the head of his cock, mixing it with his pre-come and then smoothing it down his shaft.

He had wanted to go slow and enjoy this, but the two men in the video had quickly jumped from blowjobs to full on anal on the kitchen floor and Rick was getting worked up faster than he realized. Pumping his hand up and down, he matched his pace with the thrusting of the video, using his free hand to cup and squeeze his balls.

Just as he felt his peak near, he couldn’t help but turn his head away from the video and look at his own kitchen, unable to keep himself from imagining him and Daryl going at it right on that tile. He could practically feel the handyman’s hips rutting between his legs and that image sent him right over the edge, coming with a loud shout of “Fuck!” as he spilled onto his fingers.

As his brain slowly came back into focus, Rick realized he was in deeper than he thought. He really liked Daryl. Not only did he think the handyman was hot as sin, but he really seemed like a good guy too. He wondered if the man was gay or not and if he had indeed been flirting with Rick. It’d been so long since Rick had been in the game, he had no clue how to catch on to these things now.

Either way, he knew he liked Daryl and spending more time with him was pretty much the only thing he wanted and had control over. Even though he’d been eager to push away any romantic entanglements to focus on all the shit with Lori, he realized that he needed something to distract him too. Because Lori was obviously not going to make this split easy and if he didn’t have some kind of outlet, he was going to go insane in just a matter of weeks.

Now that Rick had finally made up his mind, he looked around his apartment as he started to contemplate the next thing Daryl would need to fix.

* * *

 

Rick spent the next few weeks going over every inch of his place to find anything that needed Daryl’s attention. His blinds were broken and needed replacing? He put in a work order. The sliding closet in Carl’s room kept pulling off track? He put in a work order. The back burner on his stove didn’t seem like it was heating up? He put in a work order.

Rick made sure to space them out enough so that he wasn’t seeing the handyman every day, or even every other day, but when he did come by it made Rick’s whole face light up. Occasionally, Rick would come home to a form on his door that said Daryl had been there while he was at work and Rick’s shoulders would sag in disappointment that he hadn’t gotten to spend any time with his new friend.

But when Daryl did make it by when Rick was there, Rick would always offer him a beer and they’d talk while Daryl did his fixing. Rick soon learned that Daryl didn’t live in these apartments, but rather on the other side of town in a house with his brother. The name Merle Dixon sounded vaguely familiar to Rick and Daryl assured him that his brother had seen the inside of a jail cell plenty so that was probably why.

He’d also learned that Daryl loved to hunt and ride motorcycles, he seemed incredibly loyal to his family and the few friends that he talked about, and that he tended to smile any time Rick did. Even after learning all these things, Rick still wasn’t completely sure if Daryl was into him or if he was even gay. He wanted to come right out and ask him but then that also seemed like a bad idea because Daryl was pretty shy.

So instead, Rick just bided his time and looked for the next thing to break in his apartment. After three weeks, Daryl had just about fixed every possible thing that needed work and was starting to tease Rick about being lazy. “You gonna come make me change a lightbulb next?” Daryl questioned Rick on a Saturday morning about three weeks into Rick’s game. Rick had learned from the get go that if he put in a request on Friday night, he always seemed to be the first stop on Daryl’s Saturday shift.

“Well, I think you’d still do it as long as you got coffee or beer,” Rick shot right back at him. He grabbed Daryl’s empty coffee cup and sat it next to his in the sink.

Daryl scoffed and rolled his eyes in mock contempt before smirking and heading toward the door. “Yea, yea, yea. The water pressure on your damn sink is just fine, by the way. Maybe them eyes’re getting a lil’ old.”

“Nah, I think my eyes work perfectly,” Rick said as he gave Daryl’s backside a good look up and down. He heard the handyman laugh as he stepped outside and the men shared a quick wave goodbye before Rick shut the door and locked it tight. This was another habit he’d gotten into after Daryl would leave.

Going to his computer, he brought up his favorite porn search and sifted through the videos until he decided on one. Before he got settled though, he ran to his bedroom and got a couple items from his bedside table that he’d picked up a week ago. After watching men go at it these past few weeks, Rick started to feel a need deep inside him, one that hadn’t ached in years.

Back when he was younger and fooled around with men on a more frequent basis, Rick had topped and bottomed, finding that he quite liked doing both. But when he started dating Lori, she was adamant in staying as far away from any anal play as possible. “Are you crazy?!?” she’d yell. “I don’t ask you to do those _things_ to me!”

Rick soon learned that getting his wife to do anything besides missionary was a task in and of itself, but by then they’d already had Carl and he figured love and family trumped wild and crazy sex any day of the week. Of course, the last year of their marriage had been completely devoid of sex and Rick’s hand was the only thing to keep him company. He thought Lori’s sex drive had just taken a nose dive but he found out eventually that it’d just taken a dive into another man’s crotch.

But now that he was free of all her rigid and annoying rules, Rick felt like he truly earned the right to do whatever he wanted, especially to his own body. So he went out and bought himself a set of butt plugs, three that graduated in size. It’d been awhile since Rick had had anything back there so he knew he would need to start out small and work his way up.

Grabbing the smallest plug as well as the lube he’d bought with them, he went back to his computer and completely undressed. Sitting down in his leather swivel chair, Rick tugged at his already half hard erection as he hit play on his computer screen. This video was one where a handyman was lifting some heavy appliances, his giant muscles bulging, and the tenant decides to reward him for all his hard work by getting down on his knees and sucking him off through an opening in his pants.

Rick hadn’t seen Daryl lift anything that heavy before but he knew that Daryl had plenty of muscle. The other day, Rick had been walking to his car when he caught sight of Daryl helping the landscaping guys move big bags of mulch. Daryl had pulled down the top part of his coveralls and tied the arms around his waist. Underneath, he wore a grey tank top and his tan skin was covered in a sheen of sweat.

Daryl’s arm muscles were truly a sight to behold. Rick had to force himself to pick his jaw up off the ground and avert his eyes, otherwise he would’ve surely gotten caught staring. By the time he’d made it to his car, he had to adjust the hard on that’d sprung up on his walk over, sighing in utter frustration because he couldn’t take care of it any time soon.

With the flash of that image, Rick’s cock rose to full attention and he gave it a few slow strokes before scooting down in his chair and spreading his legs. He teased his opening with his index finger for a minute before taking the slicked up plug and placing it at his entrance. Exhaling slowly, Rick relaxed his body as he pushed the head of the plug past his tight ring of muscle.

He groaned as it slid inside of him, going a little bit smoother than when he’d used it a couple days ago. He edged it back and forth until he had it fully seated inside him and then brought his hand back to his leaking cock to stroke it in earnest. The two men on screen had started to suck each other off and Rick’s cock twitched in his fist as he thought about doing that with Daryl.

As he jerked himself with his right hand, he used his left to push against the base of the plug to add more pressure and decided that next time he’d go up to the next size. Rick was practically starting to whimper as he got himself closer and closer to the edge, picking up his pace as the men in the video worked their mouths faster and faster.

Eyes darting to his doorway, Rick’s mind went to how Daryl had just been standing there minutes ago and he thought about what would happen if Daryl would come back right now for some forgotten tool. He’d use his key to open the door because he’d only just been in here and he’d find Rick at his computer desk, completely naked, leaned back in his chair as he played with his ass and cock.

He could practically picture the total look of surprise and then desire that would wash over Daryl’s face as he stood there and watched Rick finish. The whole fantasy had Rick coming undone in moments, his hand rubbing furiously over the head of his cock until he was shooting thick, white spurts of come. Low grunts slipped past his lips as he sucked in deep breaths, trying to regulate his erratic heartbeat.

Rick’s head fell backward as he sighed, taking a minute before reaching for the tissues he kept in his desk drawer. Cleaning himself up, he slipped the plug out and went to his bathroom to wash it thoroughly, leaving it by the sink to dry.

After redressing, Rick took his time looking around his apartment for the next thing Daryl could possibly fix but he came up empty handed. Daryl really had taken care of everything and now Rick was at a loss. Fixing himself another cup of coffee, Rick looked at the spoon he held in his hand and suddenly had an idea. If he couldn’t find anything for Daryl to fix, then maybe it was time to break a few things.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This started out as three chapters but after I started posting, I decided to turn it into four. So one more to go!

That Tuesday, Rick planned on heading right up to his apartment to commit his act of vandalism and then submit the work order for it. But as he hit the sidewalk from the parking lot, he caught Daryl walking to his car and the handyman greeted him with a happy face. His smile made Rick’s heart happy in ways that he couldn’t describe and Rick’s own mouth couldn’t help but split into a huge grin.

“Hey there, officer,” Daryl teased, giving Rick a brief nod before averting his eyes to the ground in front of him. Was he acting bashful?

“Hey. Have a good day or something? You kind of look like the cat that ate the canary,” Rick said, noticing a slight blush that was starting to color Daryl’s cheeks.

Daryl chuckled and brushed a hand through his shaggy locks before bringing that thumb to his mouth like he always did. After a few weeks of this habit, Rick noticed that Daryl mostly did it when he was nervous or shy, when he didn’t really have anything to say or didn’t know what to say. Rick waited patiently though, never eager to rush this man because he was always interested in what he had to say.

“Mmm…pretty good day, I guess. What ‘bout you? Have a good weekend?” Daryl’s blue eyes darted up quickly and they looked a little inquisitive, almost like they held a secret.

“Yea…I s’pose so,” Rick started and then he went on about how he spent Sunday with Carl and took him to school on Monday. He’d managed to keep contact with Lori to a minimum when he picked Carl up too, which was an added bonus. The only thing Rick had really been missing on those days was Daryl but he wasn’t about to admit that to the man in front of him.

Daryl listened and then talked about his own weekend of fishing and working on his bike. Once they finished their exchange, they gave each other brief goodbyes but Rick couldn’t shake the twinkle of amusement that he’d caught in the handyman’s eyes. Even as they waved each other off, Daryl still wore a surreptitious smirk.

Rick made it up to his floor and down the hallway, rounding the corner as he pulled his keys out. His eyes stayed lowered as he put the key in the lock and then opened the door, only to see a piece of paper flutter in the air and fall to the floor. Picking the paper up in intrigue, he walked inside and kicked the door closed behind him as he read the note that must’ve been stuck in the door jam.

_Dear Resident,_

_This is to notify you that maintenance came by today for a monthly pest control inspection. They checked your cabinets, closets, and windows for any problems and sprayed where necessary. Please let us know if you have any issues._

_Thank you,_

_Management_

Rick balled the paper up and tossed it in his trash, all the while wondering why Daryl didn’t mention that he’d been by. It’d only been for a minute and Rick supposed that spraying for bugs wasn’t anything worth chatting about, but it still seemed odd. Looking around, Rick felt a little embarrassed because the apartment was kind of a mess.

He hadn’t bothered to do dishes over the weekend and the sink was stacked high with plates and bowls. He had random shoes tossed in different corners and Carl had made sure to leave every Coke can he drank sitting on the coffee table.

Usually, Rick would clean the place up a bit if he knew Daryl was coming over to fix something. He didn’t want the handyman to know how much a slob he could be, even though Rick was sure Daryl saw plenty of places that were way worse than his. In fact, he was going to clean tonight after he submitted his latest request.

“Best laid plans…” Rick mumbled to himself as he shrugged off his jacket. He made his way to his bedroom, peeling off his uniform as he went, and got down to his boxer-briefs before he noticed that the light to his bathroom was on.

Rick covered his torso with his hands as he poked his head into the small master bath, his heart beating rapidly as his mind raced with thoughts. Rick always made sure to turn his lights off. It was something that Lori hated about him because he would go behind her and turn off every light she’d left on. “Rick, maybe I left that on for a reason!” she’d yell at him.

The bathroom was empty but Rick couldn’t help himself when he whipped his shower curtain open, his body tensed for a fight in case there was a burglar hiding in wait. Of course, the shower was empty and Rick’s brow furrowed in confusion. Turning around, his hands rested on his hips as he wondered why the light was on.

Then a flash of the note on his door sprang to his mind and Rick realized that Daryl must’ve left it on after spraying for pests. Rick thought about how he’d have to give the handyman hell for running up his power bill the next time he saw him before his eyes landed on his sink and he drew in such a sharp breath that he choked a little, keeling over and coughing for a good minute before he righted himself.

Sitting on his sink were two of his new butt plugs that he’d so carefully cleaned and left out to dry before putting them back up. But the problem was he hadn’t remembered to put them back up. He’d completely forgotten to put the first one back and when he got home last night, he couldn’t resist trying the next size up. Rick remembered how great it felt and how satisfied he was after he cleaned it and sat it down next to the smaller one.

Now, he felt completely idiotic for leaving them out. He wasn’t worried with Carl here because there was a separate guest bathroom that he used, but Rick had never thought about Daryl coming over unexpectedly and going into his bathroom. “Fuck, fuck, fuck…” Rick croaked out, running his hands over his flushed face.

He must’ve seen. He must’ve noticed. That was why he was acting so funny earlier. Hell, maybe that was why he left the light on, because he wanted Rick to know that he’d seen. This was like something right out of one of those pornos he’d gotten so accustomed to watching but now it was real and it was scaring the shit out of him. Rick thought back to Daryl’s face and all that he could really glean from it was amusement.

So maybe Daryl just thought it was funny and decided to leave the light on to mess with Rick. Because even though Rick couldn’t be a hundred percent sure, he was pretty positive that he didn’t see any signs of maddening lust filling Daryl’s eyes. Either way, Rick had no clue where to go from here.

With a sigh, he snatched the plugs up and deposited them back into his bedside table drawer. Stomping to the kitchen, he grabbed a beer from the fridge and leaned against his counter as he took a long swig of the amber liquid. He looked at the counter across from him and saw his coffee cup from this morning with the stirring spoon sitting next to it. Rick picked up the dirty spoon and held it in his hand, feeling the weight of it in his palm.

Rick debated on his options. He could just give up and stop putting in the work orders where he was practically begging for Daryl to come over. He wasn’t sure if things were actually leading anywhere anyways. But then he thought about not seeing the handyman as much, not having him as friend to shoot the shit with when Lori did another thing to piss him off, and that made him much more sad than he could bother to comprehend.

On the other hand, he could just come out with it and tell Daryl that he was into him and brace himself for a possible rejection. If he said no, the pain and sadness would have to fade eventually. But then he risked losing Daryl as a friend completely too. Of course, Daryl could possibly say that he reciprocated Rick’s feelings and then they could have all the hot and dirty sex he’d been fantasizing about for weeks.

Both of these options were two extremes that Rick wasn’t sure he was ready to deal with. His fingers wrapped around the spoon in his hand and he squeezed it tight. “Fuck it…” Rick growled as he stepped to his kitchen sink and shoved the spoon down into his garbage disposal. Gripping the edge of his counter, he braced himself as he flipped the switch that turned the disposal on and heard a crunching sound of metal on metal before the sound died out.

Taking his beer with him, he deposited himself into his computer chair and promptly put in a work order for a broken garbage disposal.

* * *

 

“Shit, man. The hell happened?”

Daryl’s body was half hidden under his sink again and Rick almost sighed in appreciation of the view. Instead, he sipped his coffee and shrugged his shoulders. “Not entirely sure. Think maybe Carl might’ve dropped something in it over the weekend. Didn’t realize it until I turned it on last night. The sound it made scared the shit out of me.”

Rick heard Daryl chuckling under the sink and he was tempted give the handyman a nudge with his work boot. Draining the last of his coffee, he sat his mug on the counter before checking the clock. He had a shift at the station starting in twenty minutes and he was already cutting it close. Rick was almost always early to work but when Daryl came by first thing this morning he couldn’t resist sticking around to chat with the man who starred in all his fantasies. Daryl acted like everything was normal and Rick wasn’t about to straight up ask him about the plugs he’d left out in the bathroom, so they each had a cup of coffee and chatted about normal things until Daryl put his attention on the disposal that Rick had purposefully broken.

“Alright,” Daryl huffed out as he pulled his body out from the small space, the black, cylindrical garbage disposal in hand. “Let’s take a look.” Daryl stood up and pulled out a few tools, quickly dismantling the disposal piece by piece. Rick stood close by him, keeping his eyes on Daryl’s working hands to make it seem like he was interested but really he just wanted to be close to the man.

Daryl’s scent filtered through his nose and he quickly exhaled to suck in another whiff. Daryl used some kind of clean smelling soap, probably nothing fancy, but he still had an earthiness that emanated from his entire being. It was driving Rick crazy and he wanted to grip Daryl by the shoulders and shove his face into his neck and hair, soak up every last bit that he could so he would never forget it.

“Well, there’s your problem,” Daryl chuckled and Rick’s eyes sprung open. He hadn’t even realized he’d closed them. Looking down, he saw a chewed up spoon resting in Daryl’s right hand.

“Yea…guess that’ll do it,” Rick mumbled, rubbing a hand along the back of his neck as he tried to contain the blush that threatened to bloom on his cheeks. Coming face to face with the spoon he’d knowingly shoved in there, Rick felt a little ashamed at how damn desperate he was acting. “Must’ve just fallen in…”

“It was pretty ground up in the gears. Don’t know ‘bout ‘falling in.’ More like stuffed in. Maybe Carl’s got a mean streak in him.” Rick could hear the lighthearted tone to Daryl’s voice and when he looked up he saw a smirk on the man’s face.

“That’s doubtful but who knows what Lori’s teaching him without me there. That take care of it?”

“Mmm…I don’t know. This flywheel don’t look so good. Think they used galvanized steel in this instead of stainless.” Daryl’s brow knitted together in concern as he looked closer at a metal disk that Rick assumed was the offending flywheel.

“Is that bad?” Rick asked, genuinely curious because he had no clue what the difference was.

“Can be. ‘Specially on these inside pieces…” Daryl mumbled as he looked through the rest of what made up the garbage disposal.

“Okay…but why?” Rick leaned his hip against the counter and crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow at Daryl in hope of a nice, lengthy response. He loved the sound of Daryl’s voice, even when he was talking about boring shit like the difference between galvanized steel and stainless steel.

Daryl finally looked over at Rick, his eyes flitting over Rick’s body for one brief second before landing back on Rick’s face, and then he rolled his eyes. “It’s kind of complicated. Go google it while I fix this.”

Rick scoffed before standing upright. “Google it? Sounds to me like you don’t even know the answer. Maybe you should be the one doing the googling.”

Daryl sighed at Rick’s teasing but his eyes still shined with mild humor. “Yea, yea, yea. Just go type in galvanized steel versus stainless steel, Officer.”

Daryl nodded towards Rick’s computer over in the corner and Rick looked at it briefly before turning back. “Be my guest, Daryl. Maybe you need this education just as much as I do,” Rick quipped to the other man, one arm outstretched and pointing to his desk where his computer sat. Daryl’s eyes went from Rick’s arm to Rick’s face and he sighed in the most exasperated tone Rick had ever heard him use.

Rolling his eyes again, Daryl dropped the parts he was holding on the counter with a loud thud and walked around Rick and out of the kitchen. “Fine, since you got me doing everything ‘round here anyways…” the handyman grumbled.

He sank down into Rick’s computer chair and Rick took a deep breath as he thought about all the times he’d jerked off in that chair with only the thought of Daryl on his mind. He brushed the thoughts away as quick as he could though because he knew that his uniform pants were certainly not the ones to be getting a hard on in.

Stepping over, Rick came to stand by Daryl as he took the mouse in hand and opened a new window. He placed the cursor in the search bar and then looked down at Rick’s keyboard. Daryl must not have ever taken a typing class because he took the pointer finger on his right hand and hit the ‘G’ key before looking back up to see that it had been typed out.

“Oh, man. We’re going to be here all day with you typing like that,” Rick commented from behind and he leaned an elbow on the back of the chair.

“Shut up. Ain’t my fault you can’t lift a finger in your own damn apartment.” Daryl’s head turned down again and it took him a second find the ‘A’ key before he hit it with his finger. Rick chuckled lightly as he watched Daryl check the screen again to make sure it had been entered in the search bar. He figured he would eventually find his way to the ‘L’ but when Daryl didn’t move, his eyes staying on the computer screen, Rick finally focused on what Daryl was seeing.

Rick, like a dumbass, hadn’t bothered to erase his history because how often did anyone ever use his computer. And, like a dumbass, he forgot that google loved to save everything that you typed in and then autofill later searches to try and make your life easier. Well, it certainly wasn’t helping Rick out today because google decided to autofill Rick’s most recent active ‘G’ search with ‘gay handyman porn.’

Rick’s breath caught in his throat as panic started to flood his system. “Oh…uh…shit…” Rick managed to stutter out. Daryl finally cut his eyes away from the screen and turned his head to look up at Rick who was still standing next to him. Rick had no clue what to do or say.

His face was going through about ten different shades of red and he was gulping breathes like he’d been under water for ten minutes. He couldn’t read what Daryl’s eyes were saying, probably because he could barely look the man in the eye. From what he could glean, Daryl seemed surprised more than anything and Rick would give anything for the other man to break the deafening silence between them.

But he didn’t. He sat there completely silent and that only made Rick even more anxious. Suddenly, his apartment walls were stifling and he couldn’t take being inside anymore. He had to get out. “I…I gotta go…go to work. See you ‘round.” Rick spoke so fast he wasn’t sure if any of that made sense at all, but he flung himself away from the desk and Daryl, running by the kitchen to grab his keys off the counter before running out the door. Rick made it all the way downstairs and into his car before he let himself have a meltdown. Slamming his hands on his steering wheel over and over again, he yelled, “Fuck, fuck, FUCK!”

* * *

 

Rick spent the rest of his day in a fog. He did everything by the book but what happened this morning stayed at the forefront of his mind. He couldn’t believe his terrible luck. First the plugs and now this. Rick had no clue what his next move should be.

After his shift ended, he even made an effort to drive the long way home and stop at the store for some random groceries. He wanted to be absolutely sure that when he got back to the apartment there was no chance of him running into Daryl. He finally pulled into the parking lot a little after seven and made his way up to his apartment.

When he walked inside, he couldn’t help but cringe when he glanced at his desk in the corner and the incident replayed in his mind. After changing out of his uniform and into his sweats, he sat on his couch and stared across the room at his computer. He wanted to go about his normal routine of checking his usual sites but he felt weird about sitting back in that chair after this morning.

An hour later, Rick finally gave in and figured he should at least clear his history so something like this could never happen again. After sitting down, he jiggled his mouse to wake his sleeping monitor and once the screen came to life, Rick saw that there was an active window still minimized in the bottom left corner.

Clicking it open, Rick’s jaw practically hit the floor as he saw that it was one of the handyman pornos that he’d watched a few times. It was one where the handyman bent a guy over a couch and ate his ass before taking him hard and rough. After a second, Rick noticed a little note at the bottom of the screen.

_Like this one the best. Guess you watch these and use what I saw in your bathroom. Want to try and act one of these out? You know how to get me here._


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Sorry this took a little longer than I planned to get up here. I had family over this week and it's a little hard to write smut when your mother-in-law won't stop talking about her poison ivy five feet away from you. But I really hope you guys liked this! I had so much fun writing this cheesy story and now it finally has some smutty Rickyl goodness to finish it off!

The next morning, Rick paced back and forth in his kitchen, continually rubbing his sweaty palms along his denim clad thighs. He picked up his coffee cup and almost took a sip before he rethought it and sat the mug back down right next to the cup he’d already made for Daryl. The handyman took his with three sugars and no cream, something Rick had learned weeks ago.

Rick’s stomach absolutely refused to settle down, his nerves making it feel like a hive of bees were buzzing around inside of him. He was craving the caffeine from his coffee but he was too worried about the possibility of throwing it all back up to give into the temptation. So he let the mug sit there patiently waiting for him while he silently had a mild heart attack about what could possibly happen within the next few minutes.

Rick had put in a maintenance request last night. It’d taken him three hours, two beers, and a tequila shot to do it, but he managed eventually. He even had the balls to be a little tongue in cheek about it, citing his reason as needing his pipes cleaned. Maybe that had been the tequila working though because now he was regretting that part. He’d even written a little note at the bottom that said he’d be off work all day today too.

If that wasn’t screaming “Hey, Daryl! Come fuck my brains out first thing in the morning!” then Rick wasn’t sure what would do the trick. He wasn’t even sure if Daryl would come by here first, but Rick’s instincts told him to have that cup of coffee ready.

Looking at the clock, it was about fifteen minutes past eight. If Daryl came by in the morning, it was right around this time and as each second ticked by, Rick’s heart would beat just a little bit faster. “Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit…” Rick mumbled under his breath. He felt like he was almost having a panic attack and bent over at the waist, resting his hands on his knees as sucked in three deep, calming breaths.

Right as he stood back up, he heard Daryl’s signature knock at the door, three long taps followed by two short ones. “This is it,” Rick thought as he balled up all the courage he held within his body and forced himself to walk over to the door. Pulling it open, he found Daryl on the other side, his shoulder leaning against the doorframe with his hands shoved into the pockets of his coveralls.

Their eyes met instantly and the corner of Daryl’s mouth quirked up into a smile that had Rick’s stomach buzzing all over again. “Morning,” the handyman said. Rick couldn’t help but note that his voice was a little softer than usual.

“Morning,” Rick replied, his own voice a little shaky. He stepped to the side and gestured for the handyman to come in. Daryl stepped past the threshold and walked towards the kitchen where he found his cup of coffee waiting for him. Rick noticed that this was probably the first time that Daryl had ever come to his apartment empty handed, no red toolbox in sight. That only confirmed to him that there weren’t any misunderstandings about the things that had transpired in the past few days.

Daryl sipped at the steaming mug he picked up, leaning his hip against the counter like this was any other morning and not one where Rick had invited him over for sex. Rick grabbed his own cup of coffee and mimicked Daryl’s pose on the opposite side of the kitchen. The gap between the counters was small so there was only about a foot of space between them and both men silently watched each other as they drank from their cups.

A full minute went by and Rick wasn’t really sure what to say or do. He would have thought there’d be more happening by now or at least more words being spoken, but he was too chicken shit to start anything and Daryl certainly didn’t seem to be in any kind of rush.

Finally, Daryl sat his mug down next to him and then turned back to Rick, crossing his arms and eyeing him up and down. “So…” Daryl started, his voice trailing off as he raised his eyebrows at Rick.

“So…” was the only thing Rick could think to come back with and after his mouth finished forming the word, he erupted into a fit of nervous laughter. He started blushing furiously and rubbed a hand along the back of his neck.

Daryl’s mouth split into a grin and he huffed out a short chuckle before rolling his eyes at Rick’s bashfulness. “SO,” Daryl said and this time the word was more definite as it left his mouth, “you’re…into guys then?”

Rick exhaled as the dam was finally broken and he felt like he could form coherent words. “Yea,” he nodded. “Not just guys. Was married to a woman obviously. But I’ve been with guys. It’s just been a LONG time,” and Rick’s eyes widened as emphasized that it’d been awhile. “And…uh…and you?”

“Yea…but just guys for me,” Daryl replied. Rick nodded as this new information sunk in. So now he knew that Daryl was definitely gay and Rick tried to think back to all the times they’d hung out and how nothing had even so much as tipped him off. Either Daryl was really good at hiding it or Rick was just completely and utterly clueless. Probably the latter, Rick decided.

“You been watching that stuff a lot then?” Rick heard Daryl ask and he was abruptly pulled from his thoughts. Daryl had shuffled his posture a bit, leaning his upper body forward as his hands gripped the counter behind him. Rick’s face heated to about the same temperature of the sun as he realized that Daryl was talking about the porn.

“Yea, I guess. Just a little while…” Rick practically whispered as he looked down at his feet. He couldn’t dare to bring his eyes to meet Daryl’s while he admitted to all his secret lusting.

“How long’s ‘a little while’?”

“Mmm…” Rick hummed as he tried to think. Daryl’s voice was making it hard though. It had dropped an octave and had a little growl to it, enough that Rick had to hold back shivers as the handyman spoke each word. “I don’t know. Maybe like a week after I moved in.”

Daryl huffed out a short sound of amusement. “Shit. Mean we coulda done this weeks ago?”

Rick chuckled and finally looked up to see Daryl smiling at him through his shaggy bangs. “What can I say? Ain’t exactly good at any of this.” Rick shrugged his shoulders, unsure of what to do next.

Daryl pursed his lips and nodded at Rick’s admission before pushing himself off the counter. Closing the space between them, he came to stand right in front of Rick. Looking down, he thumbed at the sleeve on Rick’s t-shirt, his finger just barely grazing the skin of Rick’s bicep.

“Ya know…was kinda hoping you’d be wearing that tight little t-shirt you answered the door in that one time I came to fix your washer. Maybe those rag-tag flannel pants too, so I could just go ahead and rip them off since they’re already halfway there.”

Rick swallowed and exhaled a shaky breath before letting his eyes move. He went from Daryl’s hand that was still at his sleeve, up his arm and shoulder, past his slender neck, across his scruffy chin, over his thin, parted lips scented like coffee, and finally up to his eyes. Those blue eyes that hooked Rick in right from the start.

They bore into him and Rick wanted to fall over from the sheer impact. At this moment, Rick had no idea how he could’ve ever doubted that the handyman wanted him. The practically predatory look that he was giving Rick, like he could eat him up in one big gulp, had Rick almost totally hard in his pants. And Rick knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he felt the exact same way. “Well…” Rick’s whispered, “these clothes can come off just as easy.”

Daryl smirked and gave him the smallest of nods before saying, “Good.” Then he closed the distance between them and their lips fell together. For some reason, Rick thought their first kiss would be all fiery passion, but instead it was sweet. Starting out slow, Daryl’s lips were softer than Rick thought they’d be and the handyman took the time to adjust his stance, wrapping his arms around Rick’s back while Rick couldn’t help but cup his face.

His mouth was warm like every other part of Daryl Rick had had the pleasure to touch and he sighed into the feeling of being close with someone again. Even though him and Lori had stopped having sex a year ago, it’d been even longer than that since they’d truly been intimate. His heart was practically glowing and it was all because of this wonderful human being that he’d happen to find fixing his water heater only a few weeks ago.

Sliding his hands into Daryl’s shaggy mop of hair, Rick felt the need to deepen the kiss and he dipped his tongue out to taste at Daryl’s lower lip. The handyman huffed out something that was akin to a grunt and he opened his mouth to Rick, their tongues meeting in the middle. There was a faint taste of tobacco from the cigarette Daryl smoked this morning and while Rick thought he’d hate that, it was only intoxicating him more.

As they mapped out the expanses of each other’s mouths, Rick’s hands slowly tightened their grip on Daryl’s hair while Daryl’s hands slid up and down Rick’s back. At some point, they moved further south until he landed on Rick’s ass and squeezed. The maneuver caught Rick by surprise, not only because he hadn’t expected it but because it pulled his body further into Daryl’s and he felt the unmistakable hardness of Daryl’s rigid cock pushing into his groin.

His sharp intake of breath had Daryl smiling while Rick felt like his own arousal had just increased by tenfold. So he dropped his hands to Daryl’s waist and pushed further into their kiss as he pulled Daryl’s body closer, pushing his hips forward at the same moment and grinding them into the handyman’s. There were a few layers of clothes separating their stiff erections, but they managed to rub against one another all the same and now Daryl was the one reacting.

He growled into Rick’s mouth before trailing his lips down to Rick’s neck, licking and sucking what’s sure to be a nice sized hickey just above his collarbone. “Oh, fuck…” Rick sighed. Daryl’s lips on his neck were sending jolts of pleasure straight down his body until his dick felt like it could practically bust through his zipper. Realizing that their clothing was just too much, Rick hooked two fingers into the front opening of Daryl’s coveralls and dragged him from the kitchen. “C’mon…”

“Where ya taking me?” Daryl asked. His voice sounded almost innocent enough for his question to sound sincere except for the fact that neither one of his hands left Rick’s ass cheeks. So, Rick just scoffed at him as he kicked his bedroom door open and stumbled inside, Daryl hot as his heels. Turning back to the handyman, Rick pushed him backwards until Daryl’s back hit the wall with a soft thud.

Their lust-drunk eyes met for a moment, chests heaving as they tried to catch their breath. Daryl’s hands rested at Rick’s hips, holding him firmly in place as his thumbs dipped into the waistband of his jeans. Rick bit his lip as his fingertips glided over Daryl’s front, from his chest down to his abs and back up again. God, he wanted this man more than anything in this world and now he finally got to have him.

“Whatcha waiting for?” Rick heard the words slip from Daryl’s parted lips in a breathy whisper. They only served to egg him on and Rick’s hands stopped right at Daryl’s mid-section, fingers on one hand hooking into the left side of his coveralls and then the other on the right. In one swift move, he yanked his arms apart and the snap closure popped open, revealing a white tank top underneath.

Rick groaned as he rubbed over Daryl’s covered chest and stomach, soon enough slipping his hands underneath the thin material to graze across the handyman’s smooth skin. Shoving the tank top up Daryl’s chest, Rick couldn’t help it when he dipped his head down and licked a stripe from the handyman’s belly button up to his collarbone.

Daryl huffed out a sound of amusement before he started shrugging the sleeves of his uniform down. He got the upper half off and went to push the coveralls the rest of the way down his hips, but Rick was quick to stop him. “Uh…wait…” Rick mumbled quietly.

“What? You wanna stop?” Daryl asked, his eyebrows knitted together in deep concern. But stopping was the last thing on Rick’s mind.

“God, no!” Rick bit out, quick to put a halt to that line of questioning. Grabbing Daryl’s hands, he wrapped the man’s arms around his waist as he buried his face into Daryl’s neck. “It’s just…uh…God…it’s so stupid,” he said shyly, most of it muffled as he pressed kisses into the handyman.

“Shit, just tell me so we can get to fucking,” Daryl all but commanded. Grabbing Rick’s ass again, he pulled their lower halves together so he could show Rick just how ready he was. Daryl’s commanding tone and Rick’s own sex crazed body urged him forward and he figured he’d spent so many years with a woman who refused to give into his fantasies that there wasn’t any reason to hold back now.

“Could you…could you leave it on?” Rick asked, pulling his head back and gesturing to the coveralls that hung from Daryl’s hips.

Daryl’s eyebrows raised a bit, but not in any way that made feel Rick feel judged and deemed unworthy. “What? You mean like all the way on?” the handyman asked as he went to grab the sleeves.

“Mmm…no,” Rick decided after stepping a few inches back and really looking at the sexy man in front of him. “Leave them at your hips like that and we can pull this off.” Reaching for the tank top that was still rucked up to Daryl’s chest, Rick pulled it all the way off and tossed it on the floor. Then he reached lower and undid the last two snaps that unveiled Daryl’s boxers. Rick smiled and ran a knuckle over the happy trail that disappeared into the handyman’s waistband. “You don’t wear pants under your coveralls?”

“Nah, I don’t like it. Makes me chafe. So, this what you want then?” Daryl grabbed Rick’s hand and gently bit at the knuckle that’d been rubbing him, soothing it with a few licks right after.

Rick hummed in approval, leaning forward to swap his finger with his lips. “Yea, it is. This okay?” he asked tentatively. “Just been thinking ‘bout it for so long…”

“Shit, I don’t care. S’long as I get you naked.” Rick felt Daryl’s hands slide underneath his t-shirt, fingertips teasing at his sides.

“That can definitely be arranged,” Rick nodded before their lips crashed together again. Daryl slowly started undressing Rick, first pulling up the hem of his shirt and breaking their kiss only for a second to toss the clothing item away. Then with unbelievably deft hands, he undid Rick’s belt and yanked it from its loops. That only made Rick chuckle a little before Daryl unbuttoned his pants and inched the zipper down, taking extra care to not even brush against Rick’s aching cock still nestled inside.

Rick was close to pouting as he nipped at the handyman’s lower lip. He was so turned on that he knew he must’ve already made a small wet spot on his boxer-briefs and Daryl was making every effort to drag this moment out. Daryl sensed Rick’s impatience though because he idly rested one hand on Rick’s hip while the other sat just below Rick’s belly button, his thumb making small circles that would occasionally dip below the waistband of Rick’s underwear.

“Dammit, Daryl,” Rick sighed, exasperated as he pressed his forehead into Daryl’s. “You’re such a tease…” Now, Rick was sounding truly whiney and he hated himself for it but he just couldn’t keep the words from slipping past his lips.

“Tease, huh?” Daryl asked before his hand darted into Rick’s underwear and quickly grabbed hold of Rick’s rigid length.

“Oh, shit!” Rick bit out, his head falling to Daryl’s shoulder as the handyman wrapped him up in his firm grip. Daryl held him tightly before loosening his fingers and stroking Rick from the base all the way up to the tip, letting his thumb swirl across the leaking slit. Rick’s body shivered involuntarily and he bit the inside of his cheek to keep any desperate moans from slipping out.

Daryl stroked him a few more times before Rick let his hands drop from the handyman’s shoulders and slide down his chest and stomach, stopping once they reached the tented front of Daryl’s boxers. Rick rubbed him over the soft cotton material and he heard Daryl audibly sigh right next to his ear.

Choking back his nerves, Rick took hold of the waistband and pulled it down, unveiling Daryl’s absolutely beautiful cock. Tucking the elastic underneath Daryl’s balls to hold the underwear in place, Rick took hold of the handyman’s rock hard length, his fingers barely able to wrap around it. “Fuck…” Rick said breathily. “You’re so big.”

He felt Daryl smile into his shoulder before bringing his head up and taking Rick’s lips with his own. “You ain’t nothing to scoff at either,” the handyman was quick to reassure. Rick felt him tighten his grip and it caused him to do the same until they were jerking each other at the same rhythm, sighing and moaning into one another’s mouths between biting kisses.

Rick pulled away though as a thought occurred to him. “Do you…uh…are you…” and he struggled to find words.

Daryl quirked an eyebrow at him in question until it dawned on him. “Do I top or bottom?” and Rick’s head nodded jerkily. “Mmm…I can really go either way-”

“Thank God!” Rick cut him off. “Because I need your cock in my ass or I think I might die.”

Daryl tossed his head back and laughed at that, making Rick flush in embarrassment. But he didn’t regret his words for a second though because they were so very true. However, Daryl was still chuckling and Rick decided he needed to shut him up. “But first,” and then Rick got to his knees, his hands trailing down Daryl’s bare chest and stomach until he came face to face with the handyman’s gorgeous, dripping cock.

Rick felt a little pride at being able to get Daryl so hard and ready and now he really wanted to show off. It’d been a long time since he’d given a blowjob but Rick figured it was like riding a bike. As soon as he lowered himself, Daryl stopped laughing and eyed Rick with curiosity. Wrapping his fingers around the base, Rick licked a line up the underside of Daryl’s cock, wrapping his lips around the head once he got to it and giving him a hard little suck.

“Shit!” Daryl growled, canting his hips forward at the new contact. Rick gave him an evil little smile before lowering his mouth further but still only taking about half of Daryl’s length. He licked and sucked along the velvety smooth skin, bobbing his head up and down and giving his tongue the occasional twirl that had Daryl grunting out low curses.

The handyman had woven a hand into Rick’s curls and every time Rick would take him as deep as he could go, Daryl’s grip would tighten just a fraction more. Flicking his eyes up, he locked onto Daryl’s lusty gaze and kept sucking, using his hand to stroke at what his lips couldn’t reach. Rick forgot how amazing it felt to have this kind of power and how much it turned him on to be able to get a man to look at him like this.

Relaxing his throat, he took a deep breath through his nostrils before pushing himself even further, swallowing up Daryl’s entire length. He heard the man above him take a deep, ragged breath and felt Daryl’s hand pulling him back by his hair, all the way off his cock. Then Daryl was grabbing him by his arms and pulling him to his feet. “Alright. Enough of that if you want me to get to the fucking your ass part,” he said to Rick’s pouty mouth before giving him a searing hot kiss.

Turning Rick’s body around, he pushed him towards the bed until Rick’s knees hit the edge and then he bent him over so his chest lay flush against the bedspread. “Know how fucking hot you look with them pretty lips wrapped around my cock?” Daryl asked him as he grabbed the waistband of Rick’s pants and pulled down, yanking his pants and underwear all the way off and tossing them aside.

“No, why don’t you tell me?” Rick bit out as the chilly air in the room hit his bare ass.

“Mmm…no sassing. Or did you not want me to fuck this tight little round ass you got here?” and Daryl gave Rick’s right cheek a light smack. Rick jumped a little when Daryl’s palm made contact but then the handyman rubbed the spot soothingly and Rick knew that his cock was dripping a nice little puddle onto the comforter that he was leaning against.

“Ahh…no, please. Please fuck me, Daryl.” Rick knew he was begging but at this point he couldn’t care less. He just needed Daryl’s cock and he needed it now.

“Like the sound of that,” Daryl muttered as his hands explored Rick’s body. Rick felt the slightly rough fingers run across his back and then down to his ass, squeezing the cheeks before dipping between them and circling over his tight hole. Rick’s cock twitched where it was nestled between his stomach and the bed and he rocked his hips to feel just a little friction.

Then Daryl’s hands were gone, as was the warmth of his close body, and Rick turned his head left to see the handyman walk over to his nightstand and open the drawer. He saw Daryl smile briefly and he knew he was looking at Rick’s collection of plugs. But he grabbed the lube that was tucked in there before closing the drawer and walking back to Rick. “You know where I keep my lube?” Rick asked him incredulously. “Been snooping in my place, Mr. Handyman?”

“Mmm…only enough to learn a few things,” Daryl replied and Rick watched as he popped open the bottle and poured a few drops onto his fingers. Then he dropped his hands out of Rick’s sightline. Soon enough, Rick felt the cold, slick tips of Daryl’s fingers rubbing against his back entrance.

“Yea? Like what?” Rick huffed out, already pushing against Daryl’s fingers in a silent plead for more.

“Like where you keep your plugs and lube. That you keep tissues in your desk.” Now Daryl slowly pressed the tip of one finger into Rick’s hole and Rick buried his face into the bed to keep from moaning too loudly. “You watch a lot of porn. And you don’t have a single condom in this place.”

Rick’s head shot up at that. He hadn’t even thought about buying condoms. His nervousness had superseded any and all logical thought and now he was cursing himself for it. “Which is why I brought some,” Daryl added and Rick chuckled in relief. But that chuckle quickly turned into a groan as Daryl pushed his finger forward.

He slowly fucked the one finger in and out of Rick for a full minute before adding a second and Rick clawed at the blanket beneath him as he was stretched open. “Oh, fuck…Daryl…” Rick cried out, his hips wiggling in attempts to either pull away or beg for more, Rick couldn’t be sure.

“Shhh…I got you,” Daryl comforted, placing his unoccupied hand on the small of Rick’s back to hold him in place as he slid his two fingers in and out. He kept going and Rick felt himself relax against the extra digit, letting Daryl work it further until he hit a spot that made Rick’s whole body jump. Garbled phrases poured from Rick’s mouth as he pushed his ass out, begging for more. “Mmm, yea. There is it,” Daryl chuckled and stroked over that same spot again and again.

Rick’s cock was practically weeping against the bed now. He could feel the warm, sticky fluid smearing onto his belly. Getting so lost in sensations, he barely even felt Daryl slip the third finger in, only a momentary burn from the slight stretch before his body continued to get wracked with pleasure. Even still, Daryl’s fingers just weren’t enough and Rick knew it. “Daryl! Please!” he begged, raising his head to look behind him. Daryl wore an incredibly satisfied smirk and Rick assumed it was because he’d been able to turn Rick into a babbling mess in only a matter of minutes.

“Alright, alright,” Daryl conceded. He looked every bit as eager as Rick, his cock not having flagged at all in the time he’d taken to get Rick prepped. Pulling his fingers away, he stepped back and pulled something from his pocket. Rick saw it was a condom and he watched as Daryl rolled it on and then added more lube. He bit his lip and sighed as the gorgeous sight before him. Daryl’s coveralls hung low on his hips and his cock jutted straight out into the air. There was the thinnest sheen of sweat that covered his bare torso while his shaggy hair hung all around his face.

“Goddamn…you’re so fucking sexy like that,” Rick breathed out. Daryl rolled his eyes at the compliment, like he wasn’t use to getting them at all, but he smiled all the same as a blush flooded his face.

“You should see yourself right now. Bent over, ass on display, all ready for me. Could come just looking at you like this.” Coming up behind him, Daryl ran  a hand over Rick’s ass, standing between his spread legs and pulling one cheek apart to open him up a little further. Rick felt the tip of Daryl’s cock brush against his opening and he took a deep breath before bracing himself against the bed.

Daryl’s hips pushed forward and the head of his cock slipped past Rick’s somewhat loosened ring of muscle. Just the tip and Rick could already feel a stretch unlike what Daryl’s fingers could do to him. Slowly but surely, Daryl worked himself in, taking his time to pull back and push a little further with each thrust, letting Rick adjust to him. Rick held himself still and stayed silent for the most part, taking deep breaths to keep himself relaxed.

After a few minutes, Daryl was finally all the way in and he leaned across Rick’s back, blanketing him with his body. He stretched Rick’s arms overhead and slid his hands up and down them soothingly as he kissed along Rick’s shoulders and neck. Craning his head, Rick turned to meet Daryl’s lips and they took a moment to kiss.

“God, you feel so fucking tight,” Daryl mumbled when they broke apart. His head fell in between Rick’s shoulder blades while his hands squeezed Rick’s biceps, like he was having a hard time controlling himself. “Want me to go easy on you? Since it’s been awhile.”

“Don’t you fucking dare,” Rick said without even thinking. He felt the vibrations from Daryl’s body as he chuckled at Rick’s response. “You better fuck me right. Wanna be thinking about you every time I sit down for the next three days.”

“You got it, Officer,” Daryl replied and Rick could still hear the smile in his voice. But a second later, Daryl raised his body up and dragged Rick’s arms down to his sides, gripping him at the elbows to hold him in place. Then he pulled all the way out, where just the head of his cock teased at Rick’s entrance and then thrusted right back in until he was buried in Rick’s ass.

“Oh, fuck!” Rick cried out. He hadn’t expected that.

“Hope you know what you’re asking for,” Daryl taunted before he started setting a grueling pace. His cock slid in and out of Rick’s ass mercilessly, pounding into Rick’s prostate until Rick felt like he was coming apart at the seams.

“Oh, God! Daryl! Oh, fuck! FUCK!” Rick cried out as the sounds of slapping skin and Daryl’s heavy breathing filled his ears.

Daryl let go of one his elbows and trailed a hand down Rick’s back until he reached his ass, pulling back swiftly and landing a rough smack on the rounded cheek, all the while still pounding into him. “Like that?” Daryl asked, his voice low and growly as it echoed throughout the room.

“God, yes. More…please…” Rick whimpered. Using his free arm, he raised his body up a little, enough to turn around and watch as Daryl landed another smack to his ass. Watching it happen and then feeling the sting that radiated outward had Rick pushing back onto Daryl’s cock for more, eager to meet the man thrust for thrust.

Daryl doled out a few more smacks, grunting each time like he loved slapping Rick’s ass as much as Rick loved feeling it, and Rick could feel himself getting so close. But his cock was still trapped against the bed and he was desperate to have Daryl touch him. “Fuck…Daryl. Wanna come…but…oh, fuck…I need…”

Rick’s bitten off and jumbled words felt like they weren’t making any sense but Daryl seemed to understand all the same and he abruptly pulled out. Rick almost cried out at the loss but Daryl was quick to turn him over onto his back and lift his legs onto the bed. Parting his knees, Daryl settled into the new position where Rick was now facing him and slid his cock right back into Rick’s eager ass.

Then he wrapped his fingers around Rick’s red, aching cock and started to stroke him. “This what you needed?” Daryl asked and Rick nodded rapidly, unable to form any coherent words with his slack jawed, blissed out expression. “Yea? This what you wanted? Wanted your handyman bending you over and fucking your tight little ass? Want me jerking your cock ‘til you come all over my hand? You gonna come for me, Rick?”

Daryl’s words came out gritty and raw and they had Rick reaching the edge in a matter of seconds. He gripped Daryl’s biceps as he felt the handyman’s cock pump in and out of him while he jerked his cock in erratic motions, like he was barely hanging on as he waited for Rick to finish before him. With one more glide of Daryl’s fingers across the head of his cock, Rick tossed his head back and came. He shouted so loud that he was sure if anyone was home on the floor of his apartment, they more than likely heard him. Maybe even the people on the floor below as well.

His nails dug so deep into Daryl’s arms, he was almost worried that he’d drawn blood, but the feeling of shooting thick white spurts of come onto Daryl’s hand and his stomach overtook everything else. Only one thrust later and Daryl was coming too, shoving his hips hard into Rick until he eventually slowed to a full stop and collapsed onto Rick’s chest.

“Shit…” Daryl sighed, his eyes closed and mouth left open as he wrapped his arms around Rick’s torso and clung to him. Rick only chuckled in response, his brain still far too fuzzy to form words. Instead, he rested a hand on Daryl’s back and used the other to comb through the handyman’s sweat dampened hair.

Eventually though, both men realized the need to move when Daryl’s softened cock slipped from Rick and the come Rick had emptied between them both started to dry. So Daryl slowly stood, followed by Rick who went to the bathroom and tossed Daryl a washrag to clean himself with. Rick wiped his own body clean and when he returned to the bedroom, he found that Daryl had stepped out of his coveralls and underwear the rest of the way, lying on Rick’s bed completely naked. That was definitely a sight that Rick could get used to.

He clambered up onto the bed and laid down on his side facing Daryl, leaving about six inches between them because he wasn’t sure if Daryl was the cuddling type. Daryl, who was laying on his back with both hands behind his head, flicked his gaze over to an eager looking Rick and rolled his eyes. Pulling one arm out in Rick’s direction, he mumbled, “C’mere,” and Rick’s face lit up as he scooted in and laid his head on Daryl’s shoulder, tossing an arm and leg over the handyman’s body for good measure. “Knew you’d be a damn cuddler…”

Rick laughed but Daryl wrapped his arm around Rick’s shoulder anyway, slowly rubbing his thumb in soft circles as they lay together. Rick tilted his head and glanced at the clock on his bedside table and saw that it was already after nine. “This is a long call for you, huh?” he asked, glancing up to see Daryl’s reaction.

The handyman only shrugged though, not showing any concern. “Nah, I told Miguel I had something to do. Got until noon.”

“Oh…” Rick replied slowly, wondering if that meant he was going to actually stay until noon. Because another three hours with this man seemed like heaven.

“Yea. So, maybe another cup of coffee and then you can show me more of what you can do with that mouth of yours.” Daryl rubbed a finger along Rick’s lower lip and Rick smiled before kissing the tip of that finger. “Unless…you’ve had enough of this handyman fantasy shit.”

Furrowing his brow, Rick raised his head until he was looking Daryl full in the face. Daryl bit at his thumbnail in his typical nervous fashion and Rick realized that he’d been asking him a question in his own way. “You know, that handyman porn, it was just a substitute for you. It doesn’t mean you were some check mark on my list of sexual conquests. I mean, fucking with the coveralls on was hot, but it’s not something I’d want every time.”

Daryl watched Rick as he spoke and his face softened a little. “So, there’ll be a next time? Ain’t just today? Ain’t just some guy to get over your ex with?”

“I sure as hell hope there’s a next time!” Rick blurted out before whipping Daryl’s hand away from his mouth and replacing it with his own two lips. When they pulled apart, Daryl’s face seemed much more relaxed and Rick was relieved. “I mean, you can’t fuck me like that and not do it again. Right?”

Now, Daryl full on smiled as he looked at Rick’s questioning face. “Yea…guess that’d be pretty cruel. ‘Sides, you still gotta fuck me.” Daryl’s grin turned wicked and Rick’s mouth curled into a similar smile as Daryl pushed him on his back and brought their lips together again. Rick guessed they were skipping the coffee.

* * *

 

Hearing a loud knock on his front door, Rick got up from his computer chair and went to answer it. When he pulled the door open, he found Daryl on the other side, standing in the same way he’d done that first time he came over to “clean Rick’s pipes.”

“What’re you doing here, mister?” Rick asked and he leaned backwards to look at the clock in the kitchen before returning to his original stance. “You’ve only been gone forty-five minutes.” He put a hand on his hip and gave Daryl a disapproving raise of his eyebrows.

“Think I left my pocket knife on your nightstand,” Daryl replied and stepped inside, heading back to Rick’s bedroom where he’d spent last night. It was the first time Daryl had stayed over the entire night and then immediately started his shift when he’d left Rick’s place in the morning.

Rick followed him back and watched as Daryl grabbed his pocket knife off the bedside table that’d now become Daryl’s side. The handyman flourished it to Rick before shoving it into his pocket and coming back around the bed, wrapping his arms around Rick and placing kisses on his neck.

“Nuh-uh…” Rick admonished, pushing Daryl backwards and breaking their contact. Daryl gave Rick a pouty look but Rick wasn’t backing down. “We said no more mid-day ‘breaks’ didn’t we?”

Daryl huffed out a long and exaggerated sigh with a dramatic eye roll. “Fine. I was just thinking how nice your dick would taste right now, but if you don’t want it…” Daryl trailed off and quirked his eyebrow at Rick.

“No!” Rick replied with a pointed finger. He actually did want it, quite bad really, but Daryl had already gotten in trouble once about taking too long on certain calls and Rick wouldn’t be able to bear it if he lost the ability to see his sexy handyman every day. That didn’t mean Daryl would stop trying though and Rick was willing to bet that Daryl had left that pocket knife here on purpose.

“Shit. Well, fine. But don’t be putting no work orders in, trying to get me back up here, when you get all horny later because you turned me down.” Daryl gave Rick the fakest mean look he could muster before giving him a peck on the lips and heading out the door so he could go work on a broken AC unit.

Rick felt a little proud of himself for turning Daryl away. It’d been a couple months already and Rick would’ve thought their desire for each other would calm down at some point, but it hadn’t happened yet. In fact, they’d pretty much had some form of sex every single day since that first one and Rick had never been so happy.

He spent the next few hours cleaning his place up and doing some laundry. As he was tossing in a load of whites, he found a pair of Daryl’s boxers that had gotten mixed in and realized it was the pair from the other night that they’d both used to clean themselves up with after a kinky round of sex. It’d been a mixture of licking, fingering, plugs, and eventual rough fucking that had led to absolutely mind shattering orgasms for them both.

Thinking back to the night, Rick started to grow hard in his pants. He tried to ignore his arousal and go about his business, but after an hour of walking around with a semi-erect cock, Rick was missing Daryl something fierce. As hard as he tried to resist, he couldn’t help himself as he slid into his computer chair and brought up a maintenance request.

Typing in that he once again needed his pipe’s cleaned, Rick hit submit. He sat in his chair and stroked himself to full hardness as he watched the clock tick by, waiting patiently for his lover. It was exactly five minutes later when he heard a knock on his door, three long taps and then two short ones. Rick jumped up and yanked the door open, eager for the blue eyed man that waited for him on the other side.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on tumblr too: walkingfanao3.tumblr.com 
> 
> Come say hi! :-)


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